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Project Daedalus
' |image= |series= |production=209 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Michelle Paradise |director=Jonathan Frakes |imdbref=tt8288444 |guests=Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell, Ethan Peck as Spock, Rachael Ancheril as Nhan, Hannah Cheesman as Lt. Cmdr. Airiam, Emily Coutts as Lt. Keyla Detmer, Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Gen Rhys, Oyin Oladejo as Lt. Joann Owosekun, Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Lt. R.A. Bryce, Julianne Grossman as Discovery Computer, Arista Arhin as Young Michael Burnham, Alisen Down as Starfleet Psychiatrist, Tyler Hynes as Stephen and Tara Nicodemo as Admiral Patar |previous_production=If Memory Serves |next_production=The Red Angel |episode=DSC S02E09 |airdate= 14 March 2019 |previous_release=If Memory Serves |next_release=The Red Angel |story_date(s)=2230s/2257 |previous_story=If Memory Serves |next_story=The Red Angel }} Summary Admiral Cornwell arrives on the Discovery with a shuttle and demands to speak with Spock. She has visual evidence of Spock killing three people in the mental institution, but he passes her lie detector test. According to Cornwell, the decision making of Starfleet was transferred to Control, the artificial intelligence of Section 31. Cornwell herself was locked out of the system. The transmissions that were secretly sent from the Discovery went to an abandoned penal colony, which Cornwell identifies as the Section 31 Headquarters. While Airiam is working on the decryption of the messages, the ship proceeds to the Section 31 Headquarters. But something is happening to Airiam, which makes her transfer her complete memories to the Discovery computer. The station is protected by mines that attack the ship and that are apparently controlled in a way that anticipates any movements that are not random. Cornwell contacts the station, and the hail is answered by Admiral Patar, who is known for being a Vulcan logic extremist. Patar says that the order to attack the Discovery comes directly from Starfleet Command, and orders the ship to stand down to be boarded by Section 31. Cornwell and Pike, however, decide to send a team consisting of Burnham, Nhan and Airiam to the station to restore Cornwell's access. For some reason, life support is down. Then the team runs into the corpses of the station personnel, including Patar. The transmission from the admiral was a hologram, as was the recording of Spock murdering his custodians, as Saru finds out. On the station, Airiam does not act on her own. She continues to transfer data collected from the sphere to Control. The AI wants to gather this data to become more powerful. It is possible that Control will be responsible for the destruction of all sentient life in the future. Tilly tries to send back the personal memories to Airiam but it is of no help. Pike then gives Burnham the order to blow out Airiam through the airlock. Airiam still gives Burnham a cue to search for a "Project Daedalus" and then dies in open space. Errors and Explanations Nitpicking # If surveillance sensors usually record infrared light, and if it was originally recorded in Spock's cell, then it is a very stupid error not to include the IR signatures in the fake version. Yet, since we wouldn't expect normal viewscreens to emit IR, even Saru wouldn't recognize the forgery unless he replayed it with an according spectrum shift. So the question is what actually made him suspicious in the first place. Maybe there was a discrepancy in the file size? # What about shooting at the mines with the phasers, preferably set to wide beam? Maybe there are just too many of them or maybe they have impenetrable shields, but it should have been mentioned as an option. The warheads could be programmed to detonate if the mine was hit by phaser fire, increasing the risk to the ship. Nit Central # Francois Lacombe (Franc0is) on Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 1:45 pm: Lt. Cdr. Airiam is revealed to be a woman who has suffered extensive injuries in the past and who was rebuilt with cybernetic parts, instead of the android she appeared to be. Airiam's cybernetic systems have been invaded by software from the future probe that attacked Pikes shuttle in the previous episode. However, its influence on her appears to be intermittent, at least in the beginning, and she even seems aware that something wrong is happening to her. Why doesn't she report it? That would instantly result in her being relieved of duty, just when her talents are needed most. # Burnham ends up having to lock Airiam in an airlock to stop her from killing her away team. Airiam, under the influence of the future probe program, works on overiding the door's lock. She asks Burnham to open the outside door and eject her in space before she succeeds. There is apparently no other way to stop her, Burnham has to kill her. Well, there actually is another way to proceed. Discovery's transporters were capable of getting them into the base, they should be able to beam Airiam out of there and into a secure holding cell. That won’t work, as logic dictates the cells would be designed to inhibit any form of transporter activity. # And even if, for some reason, this was not possible, they could have retrieved her long before she died once she was out in space and outside the headquarter's zone of influence. Depending on how wide the zone of influence is! TV Tropes Headscratchers # When Discovery is trying to slip through the minefield, they have to lower their shields to avoid attracting the mines (which, reasonably enough, seem designed to assume any ship trying to get through with shields up is an enemy, plus shields are probably easy to detect). When the mines begin chasing after them Galaxy Quest-style, they raise shields and proceed to tank damage as they race through the minefield. Why not use any of the ship's weapons to try and fend off the mines? As the mines are programmed to be attracted to shields, it would make sense that they are just as much attracted by weapon fire to make the life of anybody trying to shoot his way through the mine field as difficult as possible. # So, apparently the viewscreens and cameras Starfleet uses also record and transmit data beyond the visual spectrum. Seems like a waste of resources to set up the necessary equipment and the extra computer memory to record data that no one would actually need for 99.99% of the time? Contemporary smartphone camera hardware, were they unfiltered, could detect UV (ultraviolet) through IR (infrared). As is, a smartphone with it's small processor and limited memory is capable of detecting IR. There's little demand for UV photography, but with modifications it's possible. It's not a stretch that two centuries from now, generic cameras/sensors routinely detect a wide swath of the EM spectrum. Consider Commander Spock's conversation with the Tholians in The Tholian Web. What appeared on the viewscreen was a visible light image, of data that consisted of more than just visible light. SeniramUK (talk) 14:58, January 23, 2020 (UTC) Besides, many items that are routinely scanned exist outside the visible spectrum Category:Episodes Category:Discovery